2008 Ford Fusion
This year drew an ordinary 1,353 complaints for a Ford Fusion — the model's median is 2,048. What they were about is the unusual part: 31.7% of them mention abs, against 8.3% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the Ford Fusion, which began in 2006 and ran to 2012. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 1,353 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 2,048 |
| Involving a crash | 53 |
| Involving a fire | 6 |
| Recalls | 6 |
| EPA combined | 22 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- abs — 31.7% of this year's complaints, against 8.3% across the other years of this generation (3.8×). Owners wrote it as: abs, braking, soft, master.
- brake pedal — 32.5% of this year's complaints, against 9.4% across the other years of this generation (3.5×). Owners wrote it as: brake pedal, depressed, pedal went, brakes hydraulic.
- brakes — 28.2% of this year's complaints, against 6.5% across the other years of this generation (4.3×).
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
WHEN BRAKING MY BRAKE PEDAL IS SPONGY, AND THE VEHICLE HAS DIFFICULTY STOPPING. I HAVE DIFFICULTY STOPPING THE VEHICLE EVEN AT SPEEDS LESS THAN 25 MPH. THE RESULT IS A STOPPING DISTANCE THAT IS DOUBLED FROM ANY OTHER VEHICLE WITH ABS I'VE EVER DRIVEN. IN AN AT…
WHILE BRAKING AND HITTING A BUMP IN THE ROAD THAT ACTIVATED THE ANTI-LOCK BRAKING SYSTEM (ABS) SYSTEM THE BRAKE PEDAL WOULD NOT ENGAGE PROPERLY AFTER THIS. THE PEDAL WOULD HAVE TO BE DEPRESSED ALMOST ALL THE WAY TO THE FLOOR TO STOP. VEHICLE WAS INSPECTED AND…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 21V158000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 21V081000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V904000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 17V024000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V384000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 14E028000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Ford Fusion was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2008 Ford Fusion? What happened to yours?
Loading comments…